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It didn’t take me long to locate Jax. It was like my heart had an internal GPS; it led me straight to him.
He was standing with his back turned in the center of a group of guys. I didn’t recognize any of them, of course – only Jax. I would’ve recognized him from a mile away.
Even though it felt like we’d been separated for a long time – long enough to make my heart hurt – I knew we really hadn’t been. It’d only felt that way. But even though only a few hours had passed since the last time we’d seen each other, I was still overtaken by the sight of him: his muscular body, his tall stature. And when he glanced over his shoulder at me, my breath hitched in my throat at the sight of his eyes. They were the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen.
I quickened my pace as I headed in his direction, but then I noticed the puzzled look that crossed his face.
Something wasn’t right.
As I approached him, I said, “Jax?”
His eyes remained locked on mine as he murmured, “Camryn, where have you been all this time?”
“I’ve been...,” I started to say, but at that moment, I spotted Demetrius across the room. He wasn’t looking in my direction, but let’s be real. I knew werewolves had a heightened sense of hearing. There was no way I could tell Jax the truth about where I’d been with him in the same room.
So I forced a smile and told him, “I just needed to go outside and get some fresh air. That’s all.”
“Camryn—” Jax started to say, but whatever he’d wanted to say was interrupted by a young, handsome man who came to stand beside us. My eyes fell on the camera he was holding in one hand, and I realized he must’ve been the wedding photographer.
“Miss Evans and Mr. Sherwood! I’m Jerome, the photographer. Demetrius has requested that I get a picture of the two of you. Is now a good time?” He glanced from Jax to me.
I was sort of surprised that my father actually wanted a picture of the two of us. I was pretty sure he was really hoping Jax would fall into one of his booby traps and stay there, leaving me available to marry whoever Demetrius was trying to fix me up with. I shuddered at the thought.
That wasn’t going to happen.
I shrugged the thought away and moved to stand closer to Jax.
“Now is fine,” I told the photographer.
Jax placed an arm around my waist, but there was something about his embrace that felt so much more tense than usual.
It made me think, again, that something wasn’t right. I just didn’t know what.
“Say cheese,” Jerome said, pointing the camera at us.
I forced a smile, and I felt Jax’s arm go even tenser. It made me think that he must’ve been forcing a smile, too.
“That was good. Thank you,” Jerome said. I could tell from his tight smile that he was a little disappointed with the expressions we’d given him, but what did Demetrius really expect? He was forcing us to be here. It wasn’t like we were going to look as happy as two kids at a carnival or something. All I really wanted to do was go home and climb into bed, but who knew when we would even get to leave the compound?
As Jerome walked away from us, I glanced over at Jax. We’d already moved away from the group of guys who he’d been talking to, but we were still within earshot of both them and Demetrius. We needed some privacy.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” I asked Jax.
“Yeah, are you going to the wedding?”
“Um... yeah.” I narrowed my eyes at him. Did he really think I’d changed my mind and gone back on our agreement with Demetrius during the short time that I’d been gone? “Are you going to the wedding?” He wasn’t planning on ditching me, was he?
“Yeah,” he replied with a serious nod. “Why don’t we go find a place to sit?”
I glanced out a window. There were chairs set up in the backyard, which was mostly empty. It seemed like a good enough place for the two of us to get away from everyone else and talk.
“Okay, that sounds good,” I agreed, shrugging.
Jax led me out the back door and onto the patio, where we chose two seats toward the front, maintaining a safe distance from the manor and, more importantly, Demetrius.
Once we were sitting next to each other, I turned to him. “We need to talk.”
His blue eyes locked on mine and he nodded knowingly. “I think that’s a pretty good assessment of the situation.”
Assessment of the situation? What the hell was he talking about?
I just stared at him blankly for a moment, at a loss for words.
Finally, when I realized that he wasn’t going to start the conversation first, I said, “Why didn’t you come looking for me?”
“I did look for you, Camryn. I’ve searched for you for years. And, somehow, you’re the one who found me after all this time.” He shook his head. “I don’t really know how you did it, considering you know nothing about all the other times it’s ended. You knew nothing about me, in this life. You didn’t even know I existed... or you never did before. I was always the one who found you. How did you find me? How did you even recognize me?” His blue eyes met mine. “Or did you remember this time?”
I stared into his eyes, noting that he looked completely and utterly confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jax. I know everything, because you told me everything, when you found me.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Or are you going to try to pretend like that never happened?” My voice broke a little with my confusion. I didn’t really understand what was going on. All I knew was that he was acting weird... really weird.
“I found you many years ago, but I haven’t been able to find you since.”
“Are you trying to say this is the first time you’ve seen me since my last life?” I pressed, trying to make sense of what he was saying. I wasn’t going to lie. He was really confusing the hell out of me. I wasn’t even sure if he really had followed me and fallen into a booby trap, hitting his head on the way down. It would’ve explained this change in him.
“When you came over to me in the house a minute ago... It’s the first time I’ve seen you in...” He paused, and I was pretty sure that he was trying to count in his head to figure out how long it’d been since we’d last seen each other. Except I was pretty sure he wasn’t counting hours... “At least forty years.”
I just gaped at him. “Are you sure?”
His eyes flicked back up to meet mine. “I’m telling you the honest truth.”
“You and I came to Demetrius’s manor together, earlier today. Don’t you remember that?”
Jax shook his head. Then he glanced down at his drink. His hand tightened around the glass. “It must have been Memory Serum.”
“Memory Serum?” I repeated, my eyebrows lifting in question.
“Yeah, it’s this liquid that makes you forget things.” He held up his now empty wine glass. “Someone must have spiked my drink with it. It’s the only explanation.”
Now it all made perfect sense.
“Great. I wonder who might’ve been behind that,” I muttered, just as my eyes fell on Demetrius, who’d walked outside to talk to Jerome, who was happily shooting away with his camera. “I’ll be right back,” I told Jax, rising to my feet.
I marched over to Demetrius, knowing that my cheeks must’ve been an angry shade of beet red and my nostrils were probably flaring.
I couldn’t help it. I was livid. And no wonder Jax hadn’t come looking for me when I’d been stuck inside the hole. He hadn’t even known we were in each other’s lives again, let alone that I had gone missing.
“Camryn! I’m so glad to see you made it.” My father’s lips twisted into a smile.
“Why did you spike Jax’s drink with Memory Serum?” I asked, jumping straight to the chase.
Demetrius’s lips fell into a flat line. “What would ever make you think that?”
“Well, someone did, and you’re the only one who I can think of with an actual motive. Who else would want Jax to forget me?” I narrowed my eyes at him accusingly.
“Camryn, I can understand why you would think that, but please. Today is a day of celebration. I’ve been far too busy with other... things... to worry about erasing your little boyfriend’s memory.” He paused for a moment and then added, “Besides, I can think of far better ways to torture the both of you if I really wanted to. There must be someone else out there with more motive than me.”
I noted that he didn’t blink or look away from me at all while he spoke. He was showing no signs of guilt. Not that I thought Demetrius had enough of a conscience to feel guilty, but what if he was telling the truth?
What if someone else had spiked Jax’s drink?